Personna Blades

[BabyBudaNedly]

I am 55 years old. Have grey and Black Italian course hair. I usually shave between 3-4 days.
Current Razors

Henson Mild
Henson Medium ++
Merkur 42C (3 piece with Hex Handle)
Rockwell 6C in gunmetal.

My question is this. What are the thoughts and differences with Personna Med Prep, Platinum, and Regular? I realize they also go buy MedTech.

 

[psfred]

Personna is a very opaque organization so it's hard to tell what they are actually doing.

There are basically two blades made with the Personna name, and one of them has been re-named lately to Accu-forge or something like that. One is made in the USA, the other currently in Germany. The German ones are Personna labeled at the moment, but the company also sells blades to marketers so they appear under different names as weil.

So far as I know, all the US made blades are made at the same plant and are the same material, grind, and polish. Very likely the same coatings too. Sold in boxes of 100, and the ones that used to be called Med Prep are sterilized after packing for medical use. Same blade in a Comfort Coated box is sold for shaving and for laboratory use, used to be in a blue wrapper hence the name "lab blue". I doubt there is any difference other than labeling.

The Personna labeled blades used to be made in Israel, but manufacturing was moved to Germany a couple years ago. Same equipment, very likely no changes in the blades, packed in 10 blade tucks in white paper instead of red paper and 5 blade tucks.

My limited experience is that the are all the same blade within normal manufacturing tolerance, and they are very much the best blades I've used. Very sharp, last forever, and smooth once the PTFE wears off a little. I say limited experience because the first one I used lasted 124 shaves, and the second (Israeli Red) laste 162 shaves. Hard to use very many for comparison purposes!

 

[abies]

All the Personna blades I've used have shaved very similarly. I'm sure there's some difference between some of them but I couldn't tell. They're one of my favorite blades, probably my favorite.

 

[dmshaver]

Enter the monthly free razor blade pif for newcomers:
April Blade PIF

If you win, I'll make sure you get some Personna blades in your sample pack.

 

[NorthernSoul]

I am 55 years old. Have grey and Black Italian course hair. I usually shave between 3-4 days.
Current Razors

Henson Mild
Henson Medium ++
Merkur 42C (3 piece with Hex Handle)
Rockwell 6C in gunmetal.

My question is this. What are the thoughts and differences with Personna Med Prep, Platinum, and Regular? I realize they also go buy MedTech.

You should get a small pack of 5 to start and see what you think. Blade choices are something of a personal preference thing.

The USA made Comfort Coated blades available in boxes of 100 (or 120 in bonus pack) are a very good blade and a good value, also. The Med Preps are about the same but much more expensive. German made Personna blades are OK, but not as good, IME, though some people like them. These are actually made by two separate companies (AccuTec and Edgewell) that both have rights to the Personna brand name.

Packs of 100 are available for around $14-17. Similar to the package below:

 

[Tirvine]

You should get a small pack of 5 to start and see what you think. Blade choices are something of a personal preference thing.

The USA made Comfort Coated blades available in boxes of 100 (or 120 in bonus pack) are a very good blade and a good value, also. The Med Preps are about the same but much more expensive. German made Personna blades are OK, but not as good, IME, though some people like them. These are actually made by two separate companies (AccuTec and Edgewell) that both have rights to the Personna brand name.

Packs of 100 are available for around $14-17. Similar to the package below:

View attachment 1825430

I use and recommend these because they are superb blades, they are made in the country in which I live, and they have very minimal packaging.

 

[BabyBudaNedly]

You should get a small pack of 5 to start and see what you think. Blade choices are something of a personal preference thing.

The USA made Comfort Coated blades available in boxes of 100 (or 120 in bonus pack) are a very good blade and a good value, also. The Med Preps are about the same but much more expensive. German made Personna blades are OK, but not as good, IME, though some people like them. These are actually made by two separate companies (AccuTec and Edgewell) that both have rights to the Personna brand name.

Packs of 100 are available for around $14-17. Similar to the package below:

View attachment 1825430

Good info thank you!

 

[z1ck]

Hey! I'm from the UK and can't speak much for availability in the US, but a few years ago I bought a pack of Russian made Personna blades which smelt absolutely horrendous but my god were they the best blades I'd ever used! Even better than the Nacet in my opinion. I still wish I could get my hands on some, they had a brown box. I can vouch for the Personna comfort coated ones made in the US though as an alternative, you won't be disappointed.

 

[BigJ]

Personna is very confusing!!

My personal favorites are the Israeli reds (supposedly very similar to current German-made version) and the US-made ‘labs’ which are for me essentially the same as the ‘med preps’ (both recently renamed). Confused yet??

 

[WThomas0814]

FWIW, Personna Lab Blue (Comfort Coated) and their replacement, AccuTec AccuForge, are used in fully two-thirds of my shaves. I use them in eight different razors, from vintage Adjustables to modern titaniums and bronzes.

I tried far fewer blades than many gents on here, but, certainly more than 30. Lab Blues made the Final Cut for me. I occasionally throw in a Silver Blue or Perma-Sharp in vintage Techs, News, and Aristocrats, but these don’t account for many of my shaves. The only other blades I use are in my Gem razors.

 

[Tirvine]

FWIW, Personna Lab Blue (Comfort Coated) and their replacement, AccuTec AccuForge, are used in fully two-thirds of my shaves. I use them in eight different razors, from vintage Adjustables to modern titaniums and bronzes.

I tried far fewer blades than many gents on here, but, certainly more than 30. Lab Blues made the Final Cut for me. I occasionally throw in a Silver Blue or Perma-Sharp in vintage Techs, News, and Aristocrats, but these don’t account for many of my shaves. The only other blades I use are in my Gem razors.

I probably tried a slightly lower number, but for me it came down to Lab Blues and GSBs. For the reasons described above, Personna won
and now handles 99.9% of my shaves, the possibility of a small percentage of another is for a disposable if I get on a plane and take a carry-on.

 

[Texchappy]

What’s the best place to get Personna blades right now? (Including the rebranded ones)

 

[WThomas0814]

I probably tried a slightly lower number, but for me it came down to Lab Blues and GSBs. For the reasons described above, Personna won
and now handles 99.9% of my shaves, the possibility of a small percentage of another is for a disposable if I get on a plane and take a carry-on.

The only reason the percentage isn’t higher is that one out of five shaves for me is with a Gem razor (Blackland Sabre or Atelier Durdan Vestige). But, even then, the blades are made by Personna.

 

[Tirvine]

What’s the best place to get Personna blades right now? (Including the rebranded ones)

$11.95 for 120 Lab Blues at Empire Barber Supply sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

 

[Galibier_Numero_Un]

For the record:

• Acutech Acuforge: "new" Comfort Coated (Lab Blues)
• Acutech Acuthrive: "new" Med Preps

... Thom

 

[Jaybyrd]

For the record:

• Acutech Acuforge: "new" Comfort Coated (Lab Blues)
• Acutech Acuthrive: "new" Med Preps

... Thom

Thank you I didn’t realize this switch.